"Brad and I decided we were actually going to make the turkey and we were very successful and very proud of ourselves," Jolie, 36, told Anderson Cooper on an episode of Anderson airing Monday. "We did it!"

The actress and first-time director of In the Land of Blood and Honey said she has "tried" cooking her own bird "on and off" over the years, but this year's holiday was still a first for her and Pitt, 47.

"We actually have family dinner every night," Jolie explained. "We make a point of it. It's crazy. There's a good five minutes were everybody is quiet and sitting together and then it starts to break off," she joked.

Another DIY aspect of the Jolie-Pitt lifestyle? Packing for their constant jaunts around the world -- and even the youngest are in on that chore, Jolie said.

"Now we are starting to get them where they each have their own luggage and they unpack their own clothes and pack their own," Jolie marveled, "Because it was just getting to confusing for me to figure out but it's great, it's so much fun."

And Shiloh and the gang are great travelers, she added, whether the destination is a cosmopolitan city or third-world country.

"Fortunately, my kids love to travel… they're very worldly," Jolie explained. "What I love is that they can be in New York in a hotel in Manhattan and think it's so cool, and then I can bring them to the middle of Kenya and drop them in a tent with no TV and no nothing, and they're just as happy."

"That's what we are trying to do," the Tourist star explained, "to balance them."